Disposable sterilizable pouches are used in hospitals and other medical facilities to enable the sterilization and storage of instruments, surgeons' gloves and other articles prior to use. They have eliminated the need for sterilization to be carried out immediately preceding use.
In the past, sterilizable pouches have been sealed after insertion of the article, by the use of heat sealing apparatus. More recently, sterilizable pouches have been commercialized which utilize a self-seal concept; i.e., they can be sealed by the user without the benefit of apparatus.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,326,450, issued June 20, 1967, discloses such a package. The package is an open-ended sterilizable envelope formed from a unitary paper blank having an endless cohesive band on one surface thereof.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,276,982, issued July 7, 1981, discloses a sterilizable pouch comprising first and second opposing webs, one of the webs being made from a plastic material and the other being made from a steam permeable paper, and one of the webs having a flap extending outwardly beyond one edge of the other web. This extended flap, in combination with the edge of the other web, defines a mouth for the pouch, the other sides of the pouch being heat sealed. To seal the pouch, a strip of adhesive is present on either of the webs adjacent to and spaced from the mouth, thereby defining an adhesive free zone between the adhesive strip and the mouth of the pouch. The sealing of such a pouch involves a folding operation.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,622, issued Mar. 25, 1980, discloses another example of a self-sealing pouch. The pouch comprises plastic and paper webs marginally heat sealed around all of their edges. A slit is provided in the paper member extending between two side seals and adjacent to and spaced from another side seal for receiving the pouch's contents. Adhesive means is disposed on the paper web in such a manner as to provide for the sealing of the slit in response to a single fold around a bending line between the slit and the side seal.
There are also commercially available pouches that are similar to those described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,194,622, but which have the slit in the plastic web.